With the advent of large motor vehicles such as minivans and sport utility vehicles, newer approaches to cargo storage have been required, as compared to the traditional trunk of an automobile. This is because such vehicles typically include a third row seat or seats positioned rearward of the two rows found in a typical automobile, with relatively small cargo volume existing between the third row seat(s) and the rear end of the vehicle.
One earlier approach to solve this problem provided one or more removable seats that could be disconnected and removed from the vehicle. However, this type of seating system was disadvantageous due to the need to disconnect individual seats from their anchored positions in the vehicle floor and to store the seats outside of the vehicle and then subsequently reattach them as additional passenger seating was required. As a result, such vehicles could be reconfigured only by expending considerable time to adapt to the changing needs regarding passenger capacity and cargo volume.
Another known approach to resolve the problem of insufficient cargo space is described as follows. In some vehicles, the seat backs of the second and third row of seats are pivotally connected to the seat bottom. The seatbacks are movable between an upright position, for the seating of an occupant, and a collapsed position, wherein the seat back is pivoted forward to a position above the seat bottom. It is sometimes desirable to reconfigure the seatback of the second row seat so that when the seatback is in its forward position a back surface of the seatback is generally horizontal. The back surface of the seatback can also be coplanar with the collapsed seat back of the third row seat. It is known to provide a panel which is manually moveable to a position to bridge the gap between the second and third row seats so that a relatively flat horizontal support surface is formed.
It is also known to provide a third row seat which is pivotable to a storage position within a recess formed in the vehicle floor for stowing the third row seat. The seat bottom has a rear portion which is pivotally mounted on the vehicle floor. The seat bottom includes an upper surface and a lower surface. A seat back is pivotally mounted on the seat bottom and is moveable to a collapsed position onto the upper surface of the seat bottom. Once the seat back is moved to its collapsed position, the combination of the seat bottom and the seat back are pivotable about 180 degrees to their storage position within the recess formed in the floor of the vehicle. Furthermore, it is also known in stowable seats of this type to provide a panel pivotally connected to a rear portion of a seat bottom, such that the panel is moveable to a generally horizontal deployed position which is generally coplanar with a lower surface of the seat bottom when the seat bottom is in the stowed position, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,709,040 and 6,746,083, which are assigned to the common Assignee and are expressly incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.